Removing & Cleaning Fireplace Doors

[Duane Morin]

Our bifold glass fireplace doors have got enough soot on them that we'd like to fix/replace them. Most of it has been there since before we bought the house. I've tried reaching in by hand to scrub them but the problem is reaching.

Should there be a way that I can remove these doors in order to clean them? How would that work, exactly? I tried lifting them out of the track but that doesnt work. It seems like the glass is clamped in at top and bottom, where there are screws, but the screws are placed in such a way that I'm not sure I could get a screwdriver in there without taking the whole frame completely off the brick.

Am I missing something simple? My wife wants to just replace them completely, simply because we don't know how to clean them properly.

Duane

[Phisherman]

Figure out a way to carefully remove the glass. Lay it on several sheets of newspapers *outdoors* and spray with oven cleaner. Allow the lye to work for an hour and scrub. Rinse. Use rubber gloves. Repeat the procedure if necessary. Polish with Windex.

[Bubba]

Hey Phish, He's asking how to remove them and you tell him to "figure out a way"??? WTF? Duane, look at the top and bottom corners of the glass. The glass is probably pivoting on pins. The pins are probably sitting in little bent pieces (clip) of metal to keep tension on them. You will need to push down or up on the clips at the pivot point and then gently slide the glass door out of the tracks. Bubba

[Phisherman]

Well, I can't help removing it but I know how to clean it. :-)

[George E. Cawthon]

I'll add to that, forget the screws as they probably adjust the clips mentioned above to get the doors parallel. You don't want to mess with the screws when taking the doors out. Getting the glass out can be a bear if you've never it done it before. Generally you have to fold the door mostly open (the two halves in a V), push down on the door (to push the bottom clip down), push up on the clip at the top, and lean the top of the door toward the center of the opening to get the pivot pin out of the hole in the clip. Once you ever get the door out, it will become clear to you. It much like removing a folding closet door.

[EL]

Don't remove the doors. Rutland makes a glass cleaner that will easily clean the creosote and other residue from the glass doors. Just wipe it on and wipe it off.

HEARTH & GRILL C> Our bifold glass fireplace doors have got enough soot on them that

[Duane Morin]

Got it -- the pins were actually clamped in at the end using some sort of tension device that was indeed screwed into the track. Popped one track, the tension was off, out came the doors. My wife is very pleased with her very clean fireplace doors now.

Thanks for the tips!

Duane